Westwood Energy forecasts subsea vessels operations and hardware expenditure to total $149.4 billion over the 2018-2022 period. Subsea orders over the 2018-2019 period will outstrip the previous 36 months, however, pricing is set to remain competitive. Over the forecast period, subsea vessel day demand will increase by 9% compared to the 2013-2017 period. However, vessel operations expenditure will decline by 2% as pressures on vessel day rates continue.

Subsea tree demand will grow at a 2% CAGR, driven by demand from Brazil, Asia, and West Africa. However, subsea order backlog is still on a decline, as project sanctioning over the 2018-2019 period is expected to be 22% lower than projects sanctioned over the 2013-2014 period. The line pipe and pipelay sector will account for 30% of forecast expenditure driven by Russian gas pipelines over the 2018-2019 period. However, other projects in Southeast Asia and the Middle East will support spend in the latter years of the forecast period.